TV Review: 'Working Class' is Filled With Bad Jokes You Can See Coming From A Mile

Like all bad — and regurgitated — sitcoms, familiarity and poor writing kill this one dead.
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'Working' is ostensibly about a family struggling to get by in a down economy, but familiarity and poor writing kill this one dead.

The word “incorrect” could mean a lot of things when used to describe the series Working Class on CMT — formerly Country Music Television. Here’s another cable channel jumping into the scripted game with dubious results. Working is a sitcom starring Melissa Peterman as Carli, a twice-divorced mom with three kids and a complex about finding love. She works at an upscale grocery store with Ed Asner, who is called on to be grumpy at every turn and compare life’s injustices to his time at war.

Working is ostensibly about a family struggling to get by in a down economy, flying the proudly blue-collar flag of CMT, but it ends up mostly about Carli’s insecurities. Like all bad — and regurgitated — sitcoms, familiarity and poor writing kill it dead. For example, Carli’s brother Nick (Steve Kazee), who gets his rent paid by being the babysitter, tells Carli that an old friend who liked her is in town.

"He was the only boy in high school who was willing to be seen with me after I was voted most likely to destroy a Japanese city," Carli says, setting off the laugh track.

"That was hilarious — Blond-zilla," Nick says.

No, Nick — not hilarious. And neither was the Ablondible Snowman. Or Kareem Abdul-Jablonde. Or Blondre the Giant. Or Ghengis Blonde.

Exactly. Not hilarious. Working is filled with bad jokes you can see coming from a country mile.